My Top 5 Underrated Actors/Actress

There are a lot of actors and actresses there are really good in films and television that in some ways outshine the A lister or Top billed name that are considered the draw.

Here are 5 people that I believe are some of the top tier in class when it comes to acting but doesn’t fully get the credit they deserve.

It took me awhile to narrow it down to 5 and even then I couldn’t just leave it with 5 had to have a sixth/seventh menn or in this case women and my honorable mention is…

Viola Davis

Davis had been nominated for major awards, and has been in quite a few high profile films, weather she is playing a bit part (Out of Sight), or the mother of a child who maybe being abused(Doubt) Viola always brings it on screen. She has always been a solid actress and stands out wheneven she is on screen.

She can be seen now on the new hit TV series How To Get Away With Murder where she is able to showcase her skills. she is one of the actors who should be showcased a lot more then she has been in the past, and with the success of her new show maybe she will be.

Jennifer Connelly 

One of the most vastly underrated actresses of all time, Jennifer first garnered attention for her role in Sergio Leone’s final film Once Upon A Time In America at just 14 she impressed and after watching the film you will remember her, during early in her career she is probably better known for roles in Labyrinth and Phenomena.

As she got older she never really went the main stream route of roles and focused on more smaller mainstream The Rocketeer, Higher Learning, Mulholland Falls and indie films like Inventing The Abbotts where she showcases that she is a top tier talent. 

Her most challenging role (imo) is her turn in 2000s Requiem For A Dream the overall movie is grim and depressing, she is one of the highlights in the film and should’ve garnered more attention for it, but it was with 2001's A Beautiful Mind where she finally got the attention that she more then deserved where she won best supporting actress academy award.

Afterwards she followed it up with Ang Lee’s Hulk which isn’t necessarily a bad film it just doesn’t know if its a superhero movie or a drama, the films she did after a few standouts Little Children, Reservation Road are good films but for the most part everything else was very lowbrow for her and she seemed to play more supporting roles like in the star studded romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You and the comedy The Dilemma.

It would be nice to see her given more dramatic roles in films that are equal to the caliber of actress that she is.

5. Blair Underwood

He has always be one of those actors that has put on good performances weather as a good guy or bad guy Underwood is always worth a watch, In recent years he’s been known more for guest roles on Sex and The City and Dirty Sexy Money, but one of if not his best acting job has been (for me atleast) his turn in 1995's thriller Just Cause where along side Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne, its Blair Underwood who steals the show as Bobby Earl, if you have not seen the movie its a must see for sure.

Underwood to me has always been some what a poor man’s Denzel Washington which isn’t a knock against him at all but its saying that if he was more profiled on the big screen like Denzel then he might have had a similar career because he is that versatile as an actor.

4. Rosario Dawson

Dawson has been one of my favorites for a long time now I first saw her In Spike Lee’s He Got Game where she plays Ray Allen’s love interest and is one of the few that I’ve seen go toe to toe with Denzel Washington and come out the other end a strong actor, she has put in alot of really good performances 25th hour, 10 years, Rent,Trance to name a few, the one thing about Rosario is that with all of the really good performances she still hasn’t had that one true stand out performance that fully showcases her as an actress.

Her most recent film Top Five where she co stars with Chris Rock where she is allowed to show her range which is something that I was truly happy to see maybe after this it will lead to that home run role for her.

3. Ben Foster

What can I really say about Ben Foster, he’s one of the most solid actors that I’ve seen in the last 15 years that can lose himself in any role regardless how big or small it is, he’s just one of those guys that people know when they see his face but doesn’t know his name, he’s has held his own opposite some of hollywood big names Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Bruce Willis.

He has gotten critical acclaim for roles in The Messenger where he starred along side Woody Harrelson and also got high praise for his turn in Lone Survivor along side Mark Wahlberg.

pretty sure if you look at his filmography you’ll see more then a few films that he’s starred in that you’ve seen but didn’t know his name but you’ll remember his role.

2. Jeffrey Wright

If you look up the word underrated in the dictionary you’d probably see Jeffrey Wright’s picture. He’s starred along side some of the biggest names in Hollywood Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Daniel Craig to name a few.

He has turned in countless award worthy performances but for some reason he is still vastly overlooked, Hollywood insiders and film lover alike appreciate his work and performances weather it be as over the top street wise maniac Peoples Hernandez in the 2000 remake of Shaft, womanizer blues legend Muddy Waters (Cadillac Records) or most recent as Tech Geek BeeTee in The Hunger Games franchise, Wright always brings something fresh to his performances and deserves alot more credit then what he’s gotten.



1.Walton Goggins

Goggins or as I like to refer to him as The Warren Oates of this generation, mostly known for his TV roles FXs The Shield, Justified, Sons of Anarachy, similar to Jeffrey Wright his performances deserves alot more praise then what they have garnered thus far. 

I first noticed Walt as Detective Shane Vendrell where he was a scene/episode stealer for alot of the series, even though he should be an unlikable character Goggins made the character one of those bad guys you liked to watch no matter what.

His turn on Justified as Boyd Crowder has been one of my favorite characters on any show in recent and it’s one of the main reasons Justified is worth a watch, but its what he has done on Sons of Anarchy as the Transgender Venus Van Dam  he shows just how good he really is what started out as somewhat of a comic relief character grew into a well rounded and fan favorite on the series(how he didn’t get any guest award nods here I don’t know)

With Sons of Anarchy done and soon Justified will be ending, Goggins hopefully will become a more sought after actor weather its Television and even on the big screen where he seems to be leaning more towards with big supporting role in 2012's Django Unchained and will once again be teaming up with Tarantino in The Hateful Eight.

All the aforementioned actors and actresses are some of the best who I feel deserve more credit then what they have garnered thus far but even if they don’t I’ll continue to support any and every thing that these quality performers do. run